1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing device of a photo-sensitive material, more specifically to a processing device for applying a processing liquid using a slot die.
2. Description of the Related Art
A photo-sensitive material such as a film, a photographic paper, or a printing plate is processed with a processing liquid such as a developer, a fixer, a stabilizing liquid, or a washing water after an image is recorded. As a processing device of a photo-sensitive material for conducting such processing, there is known an immersion processing device which conducts the processing by conveying a photo-sensitive material into a processing vessel in which a processing liquid is pooled, using conveying means constituted from a plurality of conveying roller pairs or the like, and immersing the photo-sensitive material in the processing liquid.
In such immersion processing device, a processing liquid is deteriorated due to processing fatigue accompanying the processing of photo-sensitive materials, fatigue with age caused by carbon dioxide or oxygen in the air, or the like, and therefore the deterioration of the processing liquid is recuperated by replenishing a replenisher into the processing liquid. Accordingly, it means that the constituent of a processing liquid at the time of starting the processing differs from the constituent of a processing liquid in a case where the processing is continued afterwards, and therefore it is impossible to conduct a strictly uniform processing. Further, such immersion processing devices have such problems as high running cost due to large amount of the processing liquid consumed and wasted, and as bad maintenanceability of the device.
As a processing device of a photo-sensitive material for overcoming these problems, there is known an application processing device for applying to a sensitized surface of a photo-sensitive material a processing liquid in an amount necessary for the processing of the photo-sensitive material, instead of immersing a photo-sensitive material in a processing liquid, as set forth, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 62-237455, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. Hei 6-8956, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 6-27677, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-174970, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-312036.
In particular, a processing device using a slot die disclosed in the above Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-174970 has an advantage of applying stably and uniformly even in a less amount of the processing liquid, and of not substantially generating a waste liquid. However, some photo-sensitive materials require a uniform processing even at the end section, and unevenness in the processing, in particular, at the very tip (e.g. within 1 cm of the tip) sometimes became a problem. This phenomenon was prone to occur especially when the amount of application was set to less.
In order to improve this problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-312036 discloses, in pages 1-3 and FIG. 1, a processing device for, using a slot die comprising at least a slit and a manifold, forming a film of a processing liquid between the tip of the slit and the member, before a photo-sensitive material reaches the slit, by providing a plane member (hereinafter, refelTed to as the photo-sensitive material support plane member) having a width more than application width in a position facing to and spaced from the tip of the slit. This processing device overcame nonuniformity of the application and unevenness in the processing at the application starting section of the tip of a photo-sensitive material.
However, some processing liquid which conducts a processing had a problem that the constituent of a processing liquid fixes and crystallizes between the tip of the slit and the photo-sensitive material support member facing thereto during a period of time when no processing is conducted. In particular, in a processing device using, for a section facing to the tip of the slit, the photo-sensitive material support plane member which has a flat surface, a processing liquid after the processing of a photo-sensitive material is prone to remain in a relatively large amount due to its flatness. The remaining processing liquid converts into a fixed crystalline material through drying. When the photo-sensitive material is processed under such state, the fixed crystalline material adheres to the surface of the photo-sensitive material between the tip of the slit and the photo-sensitive material support plane member, causing processing defect and flaws, which sometimes had a bad influence on 2nd version or 3rd version depending on a state of fixation. Accordingly, it was required to wipe the photo-sensitive material support plane member periodically or to pour into a large amount of rinsing liquid, resulting in occurring decreasing maintenanceability and increasing amount of waste liquid.
In this case, a great rinsing effect can be obtained by modifying the photo-sensitive material support plane member into a support roll, and, for example, by rinsing while rotating. However, in a case where a processing is conducted, there is a problem that only by modifying the photo-sensitive material support member into a support roll, a processing liquid is resistant to remaining between the tip of the slit and the support roll due to the unflatness of the surface facing to the tip of the slit, so that the application starting section of the very tip and both ends in the application width direction of the photo-sensitive material are applied nonuniformly, causing the occurrence of unevenness in the processing, as mentioned above.
Yet another problem is that when a metal such as aluminum is used for the support member of a photo-sensitive material, the photo-sensitive material may be damaged due to the friction of the photo-sensitive material by the support roll of the photo-sensitive material opposed to the tip of the slit. Thus, a resin is preferably used for the support roll of the photo-sensitive material, but in order to process a large-sized photo-sensitive material, it was required to lengthen the length of the photo-sensitive material support member in the application width direction, causing problems of maintaining straightness and costs. It is required to keep the gap constant in the width direction between the tip of the slit and the photo-sensitive material support member opposed to the tip of the slit, and this is the most important factor in applying a processing liquid to a photo-sensitive material uniformly in the width direction.